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Panmure Gordon

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Panmure Gordon & Co. Limited.
Company typePrivate
IndustryInvestment Banking
Founded1876; 148 years ago (1876)[1]
FounderHarry Panmure Gordon
HeadquartersLondon, United Kingdom
Key people
Rich Ricci, Chief Executive Officer
ProductsInvestment Banking, Brokerage, Capital Markets, Institutional Equities, Investment Funds
Number of employees
over 100
Websitewww.panmure.com

Panmure Gordon & Co. is a British corporate and institutional investment bank. The firm works with growth and mid-size companies. Its businesses are: investment banking, equities, including research and institutional sales and trading, and prime services. Panmure Gordon has 150 UK listed corporate clients, over 400 institutional clients, provides research on over 200 companies, makes markets in over 400 stocks and offers broad coverage of publicly listed companies.

The firm is headquartered in the City of London at One New Change.

Employing over 100 people, Panmure Gordon is led by chief executive, Rich Ricci, who was appointed in 2020.

In 2009 Panmure Gordon welcomed QInvest, the leading investment bank in Qatar, as a strategic investor. In June 2012 the firm announced the disposal of its US business, ThinkEquity LLC, to management; in 2015 the company acquired Charles Stanley Securities; and in 2017 Panmure Gordon was acquired by Ellsworthy Limited, an entity owned and controlled by QInvest LLC and by a wholly owned subsidiary of a fund managed by Atlas Merchant Capital LLC.

The broker is known for its close connection with the family of David Cameron, the former British Prime Minister, whose father, grandfather and great-grandfather were all senior partners in the company.

History

The firm was founded in 1876 by Harry Panmure Gordon (1837-September 1, 1902) as Gordon & Co. and was subsequently renamed H. Panmure Gordon & Company. The firm's founder was a well-known member of the financial community in London and in 1892 H. Panmure Gordon wrote the book Land of the Almighty Dollar a critical review of the U.S., particularly New York and Chicago.[2] Panmure Gordon initially specialized in debt offerings for foreign governments. The firm also developed a reputation for conducting offerings for a large number of British and American breweries, including for the San Francisco Brewing Company in 1890.[3]

The company remained a small but influential player, primarily acting as a broker for a number of foreign governments. However, the firm largely avoids the wave of consolidation in the 1960s and 1970s, making only one small acquisition with the purchase of Windsor & Mabey in 1961.

In 1987, the firm was acquired by NationsBank (later part of Bank of America ending more than a century as an independent firm. The firm would be sold again in 1996 to the German bank WestLB, however, the firm would languish as the overall bank experienced various issues in the late 1990s and early 2000s. As part of a major restructuring of the bank, Panmure Gordon was sold again in 2004 to Lazard for the nominal amount of $18 million.[4][5][6] In February 2005, Lazard merged Panmure Gordon with a small listed brokerage firm, Durlacher. The combination resulted in Panmure Gordon once again becoming an independent firm with Lazard retaining a 33% stake in the company which was listed on London's AIM.[7]

In 2006, the firm entered into a joint venture with the Bank of Scotland, known as Panmure Capital, that provided financing for companies that are close to an initial public offering on London's AIM.[8] In March 2007 Panmure Gordon acquired ThinkEquity Partners, LLC a US-based investment bank.[9]

By 2007, Lazard had sold its remaining interest in the firm[10] and amidst the Financial crisis of 2007–2009, Panmure Gordon instead raised capital from outside investors. In April, Panmure Gordon announced that it had received a £17.3 million cash injection from BlueGem Capital Partners, a private equity firm.[11] However, subsequently a higher bidder emerged and on 6 August 2009 the company announced the completion of a sale of a 47.1% stake in the business to[12] QInvest, the largest investment bank in Qatar.[13][14][15][16]

References

  1. ^ [1]
  2. ^ Gordon's New-York Trip; A London Stock Exchange Member Writes a Book. The Land of the Almighty Dollar. New York Times, August 15, 1892
  3. ^ The history of foreign investment in the United States to 1914. 1989, p. 490
  4. ^ WestLB: Battling To Get Off The Ropes. BusinessWeek, February 9, 2004
  5. ^ Lazard strengthens broking arm with Panmure takeover, The Independent, January 8, 2004
  6. ^ Lazard puts Panmure Gordon to work. Financial News, February 2, 2004
  7. ^ Panmure Gordon pair celebrate turnaround with Durlacher deal. The Independent, February 2, 2005
  8. ^ Lazard nets £40m as BoS buys into Panmure Gordon. The Times, January 14, 2006
  9. ^ Press Release: Panmure Gordon & Co. Announces Merger with ThinkEquity Partners Archived 2007-02-28 at the Wayback Machine
  10. ^ Lazard set to sell Panmure slice. Financial Times, May 8, 2007
  11. ^ Panmure Gordon secures future with BlueGem aid. The Times, April 16, 2009
  12. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-02-14. Retrieved 2012-06-29.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  13. ^ Panmure Gordon Annual General Meeting Statement
  14. ^ Panmure Gordon to push into the Gulf as Qatar wins stake The Times, May 22, 2009
  15. ^ Panmure Gordon sells 44pc stake to Qatar investment bank QInvest
  16. ^ QInvest buys 44% stake in 130-year old UK broking firm, Arabian Business, May 21, 2009

Further reading